Rabid Plot Fox Karl Urban Style
by Catherine or Cate
Summary: RPF is working so well in my HP universe I have decided to share some of my other plot bunnies. Eomer at the LOTR gang won't ever meet Leonard "Bones" McCoy and company but both have Karl Urban... And using that link I give you a series of one shots from Rohan or the Enterprise - for your enjoyment. Cameos from Lothiriel, Eowyn, Aragorn, Jim, Uhura, Spock, Scotty, Chapel, Rand...
1. LOTR: An Inspirational Man

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Catherine or Cate

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Rabid Plot Fox Eomer Style

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An Inspirational Man

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Her patients, the riders of Rohan, spoke favourably of Eomer Eomundsson, the tall, imposing horse Lord who sat beside his sister's sick bed at every spare moment he had. He found time to see his sister when her own father and brothers could not find time to see her. A man who cared for family was a very good man. It was clear that Eomer, the next King of the Mark, loved his sister dearly. He loved his homeland and felt the weight of the burdens he how supported for all his people.

Lothiriel had been a healer for some years, almost a third of her life, and never had she seen a man pay so much attention to his people. From the table in the garden Eomer held court, although, she was sure only he closest confidents knew where he hid. From this position he wrote letters, instructed those under his command who were fit to strip the armour from the dead lying on the Pelennor Field and burn the bodies; orcs in trenches, the men of the Rohirrim on pyres.

From speaking with her youngest brother, Amrothos, she knew that the men of Rohan were cremated in groups according to where they came from so urns of ashes from each pyre could be returned to the families. The horses too were given the same respect in death as their masters except for Theoden-King's horse who was buried under a mound which was made as a memorial of sorts. Amrothos told her that all the men of Rohan went there to grieve as any remaining ashes from the pyres of the Rohirrim were interred with the white stallion. One morning Lothiriel and Amrothos rode out there together and into the earth over the doorway Lothiriel placed several small plants with white flowers, for that is what her patients told her grew on the tombs of their kings in Rohan.

Then all those whom were deemed fit for battle rode to the Black Gate and Lothiriel's heart clenched in fear.

When they rode back home, they celebrated yet it seemed to her that Eomer felt no joy as he wandered between sick beds, comforting her patients in their native tongue. Lothiriel knew her patients felt mostly frustration, fear and pain until one afternoon a pony was brought into the Houses of Healing. She had protested as loudly as any of the other healers until they all saw the happiness on the faces of the men as one of the Marshalls led the animal close enough to each bed for it to be doted upon. Eomer spoke to several men after their turn with the pony had concluded, and Lothiriel did not know what he said to them, but they started the wave of energy among the men of Rohan to be fit and well.

One evening, only several nights before the bulk of the Rohan force was to return to their homeland, Lothiriel came across the king asleep on the ground next to his table, his face turned towards the stars. She paused by his table to close the books he had open when she noticed firstly, they were written in the common tongue, and secondly they were copious notes about several of her patients.

Under the name of Eodred, an amputee of the lower leg, there was a sketch of a lower leg as if it were made from strips of metal with several dimensions written beside it at the corresponding points. There were points marked out for where leather straps could be attached to secure it to the upper leg. There were even notes in the margins about the weight it should be. For several minutes Lothiriel studied the drawing until she decided that it would make a very suitable replacement for Eodred's lower leg if the design were to work.

Lothiriel looked back to the man on the ground and found him awake, and propped up on one elbow looking at her.

"This leg would work but it needs more padding. Especially while the wound site is tender, without callouses and hardened skin," she told him turning the page in question towards Eomer. "It would allow Eodred to continue in his former life with little trouble. Where did you get this idea?"

"I have seen orcs use metal hooks for hands. This is slightly more complicated and asthetic then what orcs use," Eomer replied.

"And where would you source the metal to make these?" Lothiriel asked. "There are dozens of men who will want them."

"The orc armour my men stripped from those lying on the fields has been cleaned and stored in preparation. Just like the cloaks of our dead have been washed and stored waiting to line wagons to get many of these men home. This is not a time where the people of Rohan are able to waste anything," the blond man replied.

"Eodred knows of your plan?" Lothiriel asked.

"It was partially his idea. My cousin is a metalworker."

Lothiriel raised her brows in surprise. "He is of the royal blood?"

"No, from my father's family in Aldburg. My mother's family belongs to Edoras and the people," Eomer replied. "Shall I see to it that a limb such as this is made by the smithies here in Minas Tirith before I depart?"

Thinking of how much work these smithies could have in the next few months Lothiriel nodded. "That would be an excellent idea. I'd like to see a test run before we start giving the men hope."

"It will give them something to focus on if nothing else. Eodred wants it so he can ride. It has that design so stones can be put in the toe and into the boot so he can still sit atop a horse."

"An admirable goal, my Lord."

Eomer nodded and rolled to sit up, before slowly raising himself from the ground. "There was one other thing I had noticed."

"What was that?" Lothiriel asked.

"You cannot wash and maintain the hair of the men," Eomer declared. "I think I have a solution."

"Which is?"

Eomer grinned and Lothiriel felt her stomach quiver, not for the first time around a man, but it had never been so noticeable before.

"I'll be back with my marshals and captains tomorrow morn," Eomer said gathering his belongings off the table. "My book if you please?"

Lothiriel returned the book to his large, strong, tanned hands and watched the Horse Lord depart from the Houses.

The next morning she watched him re-enter with his marshals and captains as promised. It took a few minutes but soon a chair sat in the aisle and those on the distant beds had been brought closer. Even the men of Gondor and Dol Amroth were paying attention.

Eomer sat down on the chair, in reverse, and leant on the back of it as he looked at his men. They were all silent for a moment before Marshal Elfhelm brought in a metal leg as from in the drawing in Eomer's book and a bucket. He was accompanied by her father and Amrothos and the King Elessar who all wore large grins. Lothiriel could not help but roll her eyes and smile at the excitement among her patients.

"I ask you do not get your hopes up," Eomer began. "This is but an idea however I see no reason for it not to work. Eodred and I have spoken, as you all know and for those of you who have lost a lower limb we feel this could be a solution as opposed to the use of crutches into old age."

There were several cheers and Lothiriel caught her brother's eye and smiled at the happiness on his face. They both knew this would help all the men who continued to recover in the Houses of Healing.

"It is designed as such so that it can be weighted," Eomer continued reaching into the bucket and noisily dropping rocks into the leg and rolling them into the toe and filling the lower leg. "That way you can be balanced when riding, and the rocks can be removed for everyday use. I do not promise this will work. Your healer has told me that it will take time for your wounds to heal and be strong enough to take the pressure. What it does mean however is that we will continue to fight for normalcy for you all. The smith has been working on a similar contraption for the lower arm, and upper leg. He is very excited."

The hubbub from all beds grew so loud that the Marshall Elfhelm barked an order in the Rohirrim tongue that cause quiet among all men.

"You will all have to do exactly what your healers say. You will all have to think about what you can do when you return home, if you can return to your former jobs or if you will have to retrain. We don't know if this will work for any or all of you so treat your conditions as worst case scenarios," Eomer declared. "But there is one other place you can all start to help and it is a practical thing."

Lothiriel started in surprise as Eomer gestured for her to come over and presented her with a pair of scissors.

"None of you have Rohirrim hair to be proud of anymore and the longer you lie in those beds the worse it will become. The healers have no time to upkeep long hair, we cannot ask them too and it poses a problem to your health should it remain unwashed and matted. As such, I found an artisan who uses real hair to make fake hair. He has promised to pay a pretty penny to us for our lovely thick blond hair," Eomer told his men.

Lothiriel watched as the captains and marshals began to move as she stood next to Eomer. More chairs were brought in and more scissors found. Combs and leather ties were distributed to those in beds and they began pairing off and brushing out the knots in their hair.

"We can use the money from our hair, to help pay the smith, who will make legs and arms so you can regain parts of your lives. We can show everyone that the men of Rohan do our best to get back on our steeds!"

Lothiriel smiled as Eomer flipped his hair over his head and quickly braided it and tied off the ends.

"Cut my good lady," he told her and her men celebrated as the captains and marshals began to do the same on either side.

Lothiriel lifted the braid and began snipping away as neatly as she could as close to Eomer's head as she could. It took her several minutes and she took longer than most of the other men having their hair cut but the result when Eomer lifted his head was much better. She thought he still looked regal, like the King he was.

"Me next," Amrothos declared taking Eomer's vacated seat. "There are men of Dol Amroth who could benefit from this!"

Lothiriel giggled as she braided and then cut her brother's hair. As soon as she was finished she turned and handed the scissors to a smiling Eomer who still stood at her side.

"My turn," she declared, and the room went still and quiet as she unwrapped the scarf from around her head. As her hair fell loose, Amrothos snickered.

"Think of all those court ladies who loved your long hair. Now one of them is going to wear it," he said quietly making his father and Eomer laugh.

"Are you sure, Mistress?" one of her patients called out.

Lothiriel looked at the chair and chose to kneel on it before flipping her head over the back and deftly braiding her longer than waist length inky black hair.

"Cut it off," she ordered.

Eomer bent down. "You don't have to do this," he whispered.

"Cut," Lothiriel returned. "Plus those patients will respect and listen to me more if I do. Cut, Eomer-King."

Slowly she felt the weight of her hair lessen as Eomer and Amrothos both snipped away at her hair leaving them with the longest braid of them all. When they were finished Lothiriel lifted her head and smiled as Eomer.

Eomer on the other hand called out an order and every man of Rohan snapped to attention, as best they could in the cases of many.

"Amrothos and Lothiriel of Dol Amroth, friends of Rohan!" he called in the common tongue.

"Hail," the men responded.

"Now, my Lady, get cutting," Eomer told her returning the scissors to her hand.

Later, while she was cutting Eodred's hair the man asked her a very simple, yet complex question.

"Why?" she replied rhetorically. "I cut my hair because your Eomer-King gives you hope. He inspires you and your kin to do better. If I can inspire you, in his absence, be a reminder of his hopes for all of you, by cutting my hair then I do it proudly, for I would wish to be more like your Eomer-King. And I would have you all healthy and happy."

Throwing yet another braid into the bag, Lothiriel smiled to the men around her.

"Hail," Eodred replied gripping her hands. "Hail to this inspirational queen of women."

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	2. ST09: A Week of Learning

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Catherine or Cate

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A Week of Learning: Relaunching the Enterprise (Things Leonard McCoy Learnt)

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Day One

New nurse Leah, aged twenty two, with surgery experience from working on Star Base Four was Admiral Christopher Pike's niece.

Unlike many fleetbrats, Leah didn't hide behind a name, but behind the colour of her skin. Carriella, her mother, had been an Orion slave rescued by William Pike who had married her. Leah and her sisters had exotic coloured skin, in a pale green apple colour, with blonde hair and curves everywhere. What convinced Leonard that Leah was a Pike were her blue grey eyes, exactly the same colour as his former captain's and her similarly crooked smile.

Leonard also knows that seeing Leah causes Jim to remember Gaila, and that causes his friend some kind of emotional discomfort.

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Day One

Chekov isn't the only whiz-kid aboard the Enterprise, but one of the other ones, Commander Darcy-Childs is now twenty-seven, divorced and unbelievably beautiful with an appreciation for, and apparently in the possession of a large stash of Kentucky bourbon.

'Leon' as Dee-Cee calls him extracts a few promises from him on their first meeting. One, to keep an eye on Leah Pike, her cousin (Dee-Cee's mother is Rosamund Pike, William and Christopher's elder sister). Two, he must allow Scotty to use his office line once a week to call Earth. Three, he won't make her choose between her medical credentials and her Assistant Chief Engineer responsibilities in a crisis, as unless it involves himself or the captain, she won't answer. Four, to hand over a list of the Captain's allergies to all key players on the Enterprise especially the Captain's Yeomen, the cooks, all medical personal and all of security. Five, have drinks with her on Observations Deck three every Friday at twenty two hundred hours without fail. Of course there were added stipulations to contend with ship wide disaster and emergency surgeries.

Leon is quite happy to accept her wink and the sexy sway of her hips as she walks from the medical bay in her non-regulation black jodhpurs that apparently make it easier for her to work, before programming the compulsory weekly meeting into his schedule.

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Day One

Nurse Chapel, the elegant, tough as nails head nurse who shares his office has sworn off all men unless they are Scottish, more than a little crazy and the Chief Engineer of the Enterprise. Leonard couldn't have been more surprised but it would explain how Nurse Chapel got Scotty to sit his medical before the Enterprise had even left space dock.

If appearances are anything to go by, Scotty's first love, the Enterprise, has some hefty competition.

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Day One

Spock, of all people, is running the ship-wide betting pool.

Leonard takes one look at the odds against Chapel in the Scotty-Enterprise-Chapel love triangle and places a large bet on her. All Spock did was raise one eyebrow slightly and accept the bet.

Leonard snickers all the way back to Medical Bay. Spock has obviously forgotten that human women don't always act logically. He shares this tidbit with Commander Dee-Cee who is waiting for him with an edited list of Engineering check-up times and the slightly younger woman giggles.

Leon really likes the way her hips sway when she walks.

Oh, and she's placing a bet on Chapel also. Something about never underestimating nurses with hypos.

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Day Two

Spock and Uhura managed to be assigned to interconnecting chambers along with several other couples on the deck assigned to families.

Leonard wonders when Jim will figure it out.

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Day Two

'Cupcake' is the go to man for information. He knows everything. Like that science has been setting up a still that is code named 'Hawkeye'. Or that Commander Darcy-Childs is the true leader in engineering, with Scotty being some kind of inspirational person. Like twelve people snuck pets onto the Enterprise (Leonard demands a list, in order to prevent the Captain from dying) and that one of them was Leah Pike who brought a companion dog to help with grief counselling and homesickness.

Leonard suspects that Cupcake helped her get Duke the beagle on board. Leah has that kind of affect on people.

Cupcake also knows that Jim spent only three hours in his room last night and the rest of the night patrolling the ship. That Scotty and Chapel had drinks in the mess at one in the morning. That Chekov and some supermodel looking girl Cupcake won't tell Leonard the name of have been behaving suspiciously. And that Janice Rand has gone ten rounds with a punching bag twice since coming on board and Cupcake suspects Jim had something to do with it, making Leonard roll his eyes.

As a result, they cut a deal. Leonard will get Cupcake the Hawkeye Moonshine (because if Cupcake sees the still with his own eyes he will have to dismantle it) and in return he will get a daily email of gossip.

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Day Two

First injury award goes to Chekov, who severely sprained his ankle doing god knows what, which he has promised not to do again until, at least, the healing period is concluded.

From a bridge crew member, Leon decided this is the best result he will ever get.

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Day Three

The first tears award goes to Nurse Felix, and he didn't even cause them. Leonard admits he started ranting but Chapel finished off strong and biting. It was an excellent example of solidarity from them he thought.

Nurse Felix will be less careless with her counting in the future.

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Day Three

Meeting Leah Pike's dog, Duke, was a test all of itself. Beagles were Leon's favourite type of dog to start. Then he discovered this one was impeccably trained, by Leah not-Pike-I-use-my-first-name-only and Admiral Archer, her godfather (heaven help him). The animal is adorable and very astute.

The moment Leon starts getting worked up about all the people on the ship allergic to dogs it moves from its position beside Leah's chair and rests it's head on his knee. Leon then had a five minute conversation with the animal about how it was Leon's job to keep people safe on this tin bucket and he almost swore the dog knew what he was saying.

He already knew Leah was a psychologist as well as a nurse, the dog just proved to be too good at his job too.

Knowing a losing battle when he saw one, he assigned Leah and Duke a pair of rooms to conduct mental health meetings from, on the condition one was to remain dog free. He then sent a memo out to the entire shift in regards to pets that may or may not be aboard and the companion dog that was and a list of people who were known to be allergic to any type of animal (in very specific groups) and also list of symptoms of allergy sufferers.

Leon also brought the Captain down to meet Duke to ensure that Jim's lack of allergy to dog continued. Which, thankfully it did. Unfortunately, dog and Captain bonded…

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Day Three

It turned out Spock, while fascinated by the illogical idea of canine pets, had discovered his human half was allergic to them, as his mother was. Jim and Uhura were forced to coerce him into the Medical Bay his reaction was so severe. Leon and Chapel then spent several hours synthesising an antihistamine that worked with his genetic makeup.

Leon knew that it would take weeks to synthesise a long acting one so for starters he banned Duke from all future visits on the bridge.

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Day Four

In light of the animal allergies, and after Alana Darcy-Childs showed up in his office doorway with a pointed glare, a bottle of bourbon, and with Duke on her heels, Leon started his fourth day with a ship wide email of all the things the Captain was allergic to, to all relevant parties.

Leon discovered that by lunchtime little copies of that list had spread around the ship like wildfire and on one of the Enterprise's internal forums there were lists going up of everything everyone was allergic to with most freely admitting to their weird and wonderful allergies. Some computer geek had even set it up with search parameters.

Jim was having a wonderful time monitoring it. He had the most allergies but not the strangest.

Leon wasn't sure if he was pleased the whole thing had turned into a ship wide bonding session. Chapel told him not to worry about it, so he was trying not to.

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Day Four

Leon, with permission, interest and input from Spock and Nurse not-Pike, set out to discover the fragile genetic codes that rest inside their bodies and how they were created and able to survive into adulthood considering that the only commonality in this situation was 'all parents are humanoid creatures'. Someone forgot that human blood is iron based, Vulcan blood is copper based and Orion blood comes out looking like liquid mercury.

The trio commandeer a research suite to work on their joint project by overriding the computer using Dee-Cee's codes.

Leon doesn't want to know why Dee-Cee's codes, as memorised by Leah, work, and his and Spock's codes don't. This is all about making sure Spock's human half isn't allergic to anything else and being able to treat it.

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Day Four

Alana Darcy-Childs is the grand-daughter of Admiral Archer.

Leon decides this explains everything and nothing. He is also ordered not to expose this little piece of information because precisely six people on board know, and the Captain and Scotty are not on that list.

He allows her to bribe him with bourbon and pleasant dinner conversation.

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Day Five

Over breakfast with a shoeless Jim, Leon is pummelled with questions about Dee-Cee or 'the ACE with the superhot pants outfit which all women should wear in winter'.

Leon decides not to point out there is no winter on a Star ship. Or ask Jim where his shoes are. Also Leon suspects that Cupcake is black market profiteering with the help of the logistics team when Chapel arrived to work in a pair of black pants the previous day. Those black pants do leave a lot more to the imagination, and apparently save time showering according to an overheard conversation between Dee-Cee and Chapel.

It all comes to a head when Jim declares that Leon is dating 'the ACE with the super-hot pants' and Leon realises he doesn't mind that tag too much, even if he has only known Dee-Cee five days. Dating is about getting to know someone.

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Day Five

Sulu is the only person on the entire Enterprise who proudly wears the golden jumper and reports to his compulsory physical on time, the first time.

Leon wonders why he even tries to make the command types attend.

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Day Five

Scotty and Admiral Archer have a pretty healthy respect for one another and use his private office line, as negotiated by Dee-Cee, to play chess and discuss beaming theory.

The thing with the dog turned out to be Scotty using the Admiral's calculations instead of his own to prove his point. He would have been able to retrieve the dog easily but the animal moved from its arrival destination too quickly and was lost. The Admiral had ranted and raged about the dog because he didn't want anyone to know that the calculations had been his. Scotty's exile to Delta Vega had been self-imposed, to give him no distractions while he investigated the subject further with live tests.

Leonard also knows that the Admiral will have Scotty in check mate for their game of chess in six moves of less.

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Day Six

It's Friday and Leon can't wait for ten that evening. Yesterday, after his breakfast conversation with Jim, which Alana soon heard about, she went and blacked out the Observation Deck for their personal use for three hours.

Jim is furious he can't override the request.

Leon's is contemplating giggling, of all things, because Alana has jigged the computer system so they can make the glass windows from the ship into the room change to the frosted privacy setting. So Jim won't be able to spy either. Leon may or may not have also bribed Cupcake to cut the camera feed in that room for those hours also.

This is the best prank he has ever played on Jim.

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Day Six

Anna Chekova (the supermodel), Pavel Chekov's older sister came on board as Jim's second yeoman come security officer, came to congratulate him on outfoxing the Captain.

Chekov and Chekova, Leon has discovered, spend their spare time together playing cards and checkers and pranking the captain's quarters using Spock's override. Jim thinks it is Spock and Uhura who are moving his things, taking all his pants and left shoes and so forth. It has become a bit of an amusing thing to see Jim walk into the mess sans-something and start snipping at a serious Spock and giggling Uhura (the captain doesn't seem to mind terribly either).

Leonard just hopes that the Russian siblings don't blab about him feeding them ideas when they are finally caught.

He accepts the offered bottles of vodka, cranberry juice, triple sec and several limes quite happily. He even grins when Chekova suggests leaving the empty bottles in the bin to flummox the Captain as she suspects he will search the observation deck for evidence after the 'date'.

Chekova also agrees to carry a message to Dee-Cee about the change of beverage for the evening. Leon doesn't want to surprise her too badly.

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Day Six

Alana comes to Medical Bay frustrated because Spock won't let her bet on Leon in his illegal little betting pool. He declared her too close to the action as she 'is a prized chess piece in the good doctor's game'.

Leon lets her know that Chekov and Chekova can be bought, for a price. That Cupcake will do it too for a heftier price. Then Chapel enters the conversation, telling them both she will places their bets for free just to wipe out Spock's coffers so they had better come up with a good plan with long odds.

An hour later an engineering ensign brings a cryptic message from Scotty, to Leon and Chapel about a transporter pad and change of date location to the Engineering Skydeck (in full view of the cameras).

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Day Seven

Everyone fell for it hook, line and sinker. Even Spock. As such Leon and Alana decide to split their substantial winnings with Scotty and Chapel.

Jim's laughing now (shirtless at breakfast today), but apparently he was furious for several hours last night after realising he'd been duped. As such Leon decides he owes Cupcake some of those cosmos sitting in the Medical Bay fridge and sends him an invitation to the first week party he's hosting in his office that evening. And the rest go to Rand, Chekov and Chekova who managed to hypo Jim into more than three hours of sleep after his rant had died down. They can definitely get cosmos too.

Jim and Alana and Scotty and Chapel will all be there too. That just leaves him to invite the rest of the bridge. Leon sends out a memo.

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Day Seven

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Chapel has taken to the party idea with zealousness and is decorating the medical bay overflow area into some cool lounge bar area. She's already off duty so Leon suspects that she's already had a cosmo or two. That and there was a cocktail making book on her station all morning.

Apparently there are going to be cocktail making games.

Leon tells on of the nurses he's taking his lunch break but really he's sneaking back to his room to grab a change of clothes (if Chapel is wearing a dress he assumes all the women are). On the way back he'll also stop by Hawkeye and pick up his moonshine order.

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Day Seven

Jim, who found out from Uhura that the women were dressing up for the medical bay first week party had the same thought as Leon to change into casual clothes, only in his room, he found Chekova rifling around in his wardrobe. Jim being Jim, he hit the 'intruder' before asking any questions. So now they are in medical with an apologetic Jim and a very guilty looking Chekova repeatedly telling him that she's never going to organise a change of clothes for him again.

Leon just wants to laugh out loud because Chekova is not only convincing but a very pretty face and Jim is falling for everything. And she already told Leon she was going to take all of Jim's casual shirts as many women on the ship had liked the shirtless Jim at breakfast. Cupcake told her so when he tried to sell her a photo of the incident.

Leon wants to laugh and makes a mental note to get Cupcake to send him a copy of the photo so he can tease Jim at some point in the future.

Jim hasn't worked out that Chekov is there in medical and looking murderous because Jim just gave his sister a serious head wound. Leon and Chapel have a bet going between them making Leon hope that Jim remains oblivious to Russian naming customs for at least the next fifteen minutes.

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Day Seven

The party is a success with excellent dress choices by the ladies, good music and some terribly sweet drinks. But it's all in good fun.

Spock is scowling at Scotty and Chapel as they slow dance and Leon learns while dancing with Uhura that she bet on Chapel as well. When Spock asked her why apparently she cited her own behaviour with him as evidence which has led to Spock shortening the odds.

It took Jim dancing with Leah to realise that Chekova was Chekov's sister earning Leon fifty credits from a giggly Chapel. Leon also noticed the Jim held Leah the furthest away from him while dancing of any woman. Seeing the abnormal behaviour from his best friend Leon decided to keep it to himself before approaching Spock and introducing the subject to the betting pool.

Doctor M'Benga doesn't drink alcohol, which surprised Leon, but he didn't think anyone else knew as his fellow was drinking a lot of cranberry juice from cocktail glasses.

Alana introduced him to raw cookie dough with choc chips as a side dish for bourbon. It was too sugary for Leon but not unpleasant. The twenty minute makeout session in his office with Alana was very, very pleasant however. Everyone noticed them emerge. Jim even had the balls to ask if they needed new quarters on the families deck.

Alana had smirked and given him a particularly witty response about them not even needing quarters when they both had offices and there so many nooks between engineering and medical. Leon was concentrating on Jabba the Hutt from the old Star Wars movies in order to keep the lust that was clenching in his belly under control. He wasn't doing so well with that but Alana had noticed and was staying close to help and hinder him in equal parts.

Sulu came late and looked equally dishevelled to how Leon felt.

Then Jim found out about Uhura and Spock already sharing up on the families deck.

"This is our cue," Alana told him taking his hand and leading him out of his own party.

By the time they reached his quarters (they were closer) and Alana had put in her grandfather's override codes so no one could disturb them Leon had decided that his first official week on a starship hadn't been bad at all.

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	3. LOTR: A Nervous King

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Catherine or Cate

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Rabid Plot Fox: Eomer Style

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A Nervous King

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"My Lady, Lothiriel?"

The lady in question looked up from where she was trying to read on a settee in the Royal Suite of Edoras to answer the call.

"Come in Master Hobbit," she greeted.

The man walked into the room, stretching to close the door behind him before locking it soundly. Lothiriel raised her eyebrow questioningly.

"I, My Lady, am Meriadoc, Esquire of Rohan," he announced proudly. "Eomer King's best hobbit!"

"I'm sure you are," Lothiriel declared. "You must be the cousin of Pippin, of whom my cousin Faramir has told me much."

"I am," Meriadoc confirmed.

"And why have you locked us into the room?" she asked, trying her best to become more like the people she was to spend the rest of her days serving and getting straight to the point.

The hobbit looked down at his hairy feet.

"My Lady," he said shuffling, and drawing his toe over a join in the wooden floor. "We hobbits are often overlooked."

He paused and Lothiriel but down her book and moved her feet off the settee and onto the floor.

"Continue, my good hobbit," she encouraged with a smile.

"Eomer-King was speaking with Firefoot this morning…"

"His horse?" Lothiriel asked.

"Yes," Meriadoc confirmed. "But he did not realised my cousin and I were also in the stables. We heard every word he said."

Lothiriel shook her head in confusion at the hobbits nervous behaviour.

"If you are oath bound against telling me what was said between Firefoot and his master I'm sure your cousin could tell me," she said goading the hobbit before her.

Meriadoc looked up in surprise before grinning as he realised her ploy.

"You may call me, Merry," he told her.

"And you may call me, Lotie when we are in private," Lothiriel replied. "Now tell me what the king told his horse."

"I will not!" Merry said standing straight. "But I will suggest that you move to sit beside the door leading to the sitting room."

Lothiriel looked at him questioningly.

"It is tradition for the groom and bride not to see each other before the wedding. In our customs, in the Shire, they are still allowed to talk, through doors and windows," Merry explained making shooing motions with his little hands. "Usually with a stolen kiss or two but you are a king and soon to be queen so Pippin and I can't condone that kind of behaviour."

Eventually, Merry gave up and grabbed her hand forcing her to follow him over to the door that connected to the sitting room and dropping a pillow on the floor indicated for her to sit.

"Stay there," he ordered, making Lothiriel giggle in surprise.

She watched as he ran over to the main door and opened it, running down the hall and leaving it ajar.

After some minutes she heard the steady sound of booted footsteps and the pitter of feet and two hobbit voices.

"Please, Eomer-King. It is a surprise," Merry's voice said.

"Firefoot told us," the other hobbit said before yelping in surprise or pain. Knowing how her brothers acted around each other Lothiriel guessed both.

"What is going on, little hobbits?" Eomer asked, in his strong deep voice, stopping in what appeared to be the doorway of the adjoining room.

"Trust us," Merry ordered, and Lothiriel found her ear hard pressed to the door to hear his next words. "Just sit there by the door and tell the door what you told Firefoot this morning."

"Did you want a pillow?" Pippin asked.

Lothiriel heard the sound of a tall man sliding down the wall beside the door and then rearranging himself to be comfortable. She looked up as Merry poked his head into her room and grinned before taking his place as guard outside the slightly open door.

She watched the door for a few moments before a light tap was made on the other side of the wood. Lothiriel grinned before tapping back.

On the other side of the door Eomer chuckled.

"I should have guessed," he murmured softly. "I suppose I should have told you my concerns before I told them to Firefoot anyway. You and I are to be married tomorrow."

Unable to trust her voice, or wipe the smile from her face, Lothiriel tapped the door. A reply was almost immediately heard.

"This morning, I told Firefoot that I was nervous about marrying you. That I never expected to marry, let alone be involved in a political marriage and now that is was upon me…"

Eomer went silent. Lothiriel waited.

"And," she prompted, losing patience.

"Now that my marriage is here I want to marry for love like Eowyn. I hope to find that love with you, since you are to be my wife and queen."

Lothiriel tapped on the door.

"I wish that also," she said.

The tap replied.

"I know so little about you," she said softly. "My brothers respect you as a mighty warrior, exceptional horseman, good leader and loyal friend. I suppose that is a good start in making a great husband…"

"I like my eggs scrambled," Eomer interrupted. "But they are always presented to the breakfast table soft boiled. I have four pair of riding boots but my favourites are those made in soft leather, with wool on the inside, for sneaking around the hall on cold winter nights. I had a dog as a boy, well my father did. He followed my father to death quicker to death than my mother did. And I worry about you being lonely here at Edoras."

"My Lord," Lothiriel said softly, her hand flat up against the door. "I worry about that too, but then I remember I have you. And I will soon have a horse of Rohan who will listen to my worries."

Eomer chucked and Lothiriel heard him speaking to the hobbit on the other side of the door.

"I like my eggs fried with tomatoes and mushrooms and ham for breakfast. I also fear that my shoes will not be warm enough come winter for me to reside here at Edoras. My feet are already very cold," she told Eomer. "I like to read. And I like to spend time out in the gardens. And I like flowers and find your funeral flower to be beautiful and wish I could go out and sit on one of the mounds and weave them into little crowns for all the little girls in the village."

"What else?" Eomer asked.

"My youngest brother is the best at brushing and braiding my hair," Lothiriel said with a giggle. She heard a corresponding laugh from the other side of the door. "He helped my mother with me most due to our close ages as she fell into sickness. He can still do it and does from time to time if he is upset or wants to know something."

"I did the same for my sister for many years," Eomer replied. "Pippin is about to come in and present you with one of my wedding presents to you."

"One of?" Lothiriel said spinning around to the door and seeing both hobbits coming into the room and grinning over the basket.

"My Lady," the unfamiliar hobbit said presenting the basket to her.

"Oh!" Lothiriel declared whipping the cloth from the top of the basket to reveal her present. "Puppies!"

"Yes," Eomer said with a laugh. "They are from two different litters. One is twelve weeks the other ten weeks old. One is from Westfold and one from the east. They are breeding dogs, Lothiriel, but they will make good protectors and companions for you."

Lothiriel wiggled her fingers in the baskets and both tiny animals yipped.

"They are so sweet. Thank you, Eomer."

"It is my pleasure, Lothiriel."

Lothiriel smiled to the hobbits as they retreated.

"What's my present?" Eomer asked and she laughed startling the puppies.

"You will have to wait and see," Lothiriel replied. "What is your favourite colour?"

"The velvetly blue of the midnight sky," Eomer replied. "What is yours?"

"The blue-grey of the ocean under heavy storm clouds," Lothiriel replied. "How are your nerves?"

Eomer chuckled and tapped the door.

Lothiriel giggled and tapped back.

"They are soothed," Eomer replied. "But there is much we must still learn about the other."

"The fact we are trying means we are doing far better than others in similar political marriages," she returned. "We can learn to love."

"I don't imagine it would be difficult," she heard Eomer say in a very low voice.

Lothiriel tapped the door. On the other side Eomer swore in his own language making Lothiriel giggle.

"You'll have to teach me how to speak also, Eomer."

"Eomer," she heard him mutter and Lothiriel realised she had been very familiar, however she decided not to correct herself as she would be one of few who could call the king by his name.

"I prefer Lottie in private," she said wiggling her fingers at the puppies again as they clambered over each other.

"Lottie?" he asked. "But Lothiriel in public?"

"Lothiriel is a princess and a queen. Lottie is a daughter, sister and now a wife. Do the puppies have names?"

"No, Lottie," Eomer said, pronouncing the name differently to her own kin, but in a more intimate way she enjoyed. "I was hoping you would name them, or we would together."

"Well this little girl likes the basket. She keeps chewing on it."

"So you want to name her 'Basket'?" Eomer asked with a laugh.

At the door, Merry made a noise and Lothiriel saw her father. Pressing a finger to her lips for quiet she gestured for him to enter.

"If she is to be a breeding dog then she will spend plenty of time close to one," Lothiriel said plainly as her father sat down next to her in confusion.

"My wedding gift," she whispered to him, pointing to the puppies.

"Can we name the boy something strong and vital if his closest companion is to be 'Basket'?"

"I was thinking 'Boot'," Lothiriel replied. "But we may name him 'Dagger' if that is what you wish."

Eomer laughed and Lothiriel watched her father stand to leave.

"Talk to him," he whispered. "Send your guard for me when you have a moment to spare."

Lothiriel nodded and smiled as her father bent to press a kiss into the top of her head.

"Boot and Basket it is then," he agreed still chuckling. "Our poor heirs."

Lothiriel sat up in surprise knocking the puppies off her lap with a pair of squeals.

"Is everything alright?" Eomer asked with more urgency in his voice.

"I moved too suddenly for our puppies," Lotheriel replied giving Basket to Merry and gesturing for the hobbit to take the tiny animal next door. "Any child I may bare you will be your heir, Eomer and not mine."

"No," he replied firmly. "It will be ours. Hello, Basket."

"Merry gave her to you?" Lothiriel asked.

She imagined Eomer nodded. "Why do you share?"

"Because tomorrow it will be official, what is mine will also be yours. Plus, I fully intend to allow them to sleep in a corner of our rooms once they are properly trained."

Eomer chuckled. "What else to you intend, my dear Lottie?"

"To keep having children so there is never one lone girl or boy. There is always safety from one's siblings in numbers," she told Eomer with a large smile. "And to start building winter villages from clay bricks with walls and the like for the villagers. I cannot imagine how they stay warm in those wooden shacks I journeyed past. They could definitely not light a fire within."

"What else?"

"You need to improve the roads…"

"Starting with the Dimholt," Eomer said. "So it is quicker for you to journey home to see your kin."

"And build something like the Houses of Healing so your women can learn a skill…"

"Eowyn is decent with a blade."

"Yes," Lothiriel agreed. "I will have to improve my own skill. And practice riding astride once more. And the language. Do they have classes for children here?"

"No formal ones, no," Eomer replied. "But the children probably will be the best place to learn our language for they have plenty of time to spend with you."

"The boys can follow me out on their horses and can correct my form and then I can then go picking wild flowers with all the little girls with blonde hair," Lothiriel declared happily.

"They will want your hair by the end of the winter if you keep up with ideas such as these," Eomer declared, sounding pleased.

"Watch towers should be built near the roads and the Fords of Isen. They could also act as winter homes for your people who continue to maintain a nomadic lifestyle. And we will need to restock wood up to the Beacons of Minas Tirith."

"It seems that in preparation for your move to Rohan you learnt all you could, Lottie," Eomer said. "Thank you."

"I wish to be valued and respected by my new people."

"With ideas like that you will be," Eomer replied. "Greatly. Especially to me."

After a moment of silence Lothiriel chuckled when Eomer tapped on the door.

"You are still there."

Lothiriel tapped back. "Just assessing."

"Assessing what?" Eomer asked.

"My own nerves."

"How do you find them?"

Lothiriel smiled at the puppy in her lap.

"Soothed."

"I'll speak to the hobbits and see if we can't do this again later tonight. You've given me much to think about," Eomer told her softly. "I'd like the opportunity to think on it and bring back my own ideas."

"I'd like that," Lothiriel replied, tapping the door softly.

"You should hide," Eomer said. "I am going to open the door and hand you Basket."

Standing and stepping behind the door, Lothiriel watched as it opened and the puppy, balanced on Eomer's large hand was passed through. Accepting the animal and pulling it quickly to her chest Lothiriel grabbed the fingers before they disappeared again.

She smiled as they squeezed before disappearing and the door closing softly.

Her smile turned into a grin when she heard the final tap.

"I'll return soon, Lottie," Eomer promised.

Lothiriel just tapped the door in positive reply.

III

III


	4. ST09: He Helps Us Grieve

III

Catherine or Cate

III

Rabid Plot Fox Bones Style

III

He Helps Us Grieve

III

Spock looked at the board and back to his opponent. Despite being over thirty and human he found Doctor McCoy to be a stimulating conversationalist and an able player of games involving logic.

The thing about McCoy, or Bones as the Captain constantly called him, that frustrated Spock most was his illogical thought process. He described to Ensign Chekov his own ideas about the patterns about how McCoy's thoughts operated. The young man's human perspective was that McCoy's thoughts were like a plait of hair, sometimes the strands went over and sometimes under and in the end they made a whole but were hard to follow. After studying such a braid in Nyota's hair, Spock took the concept to the doctor himself.

McCoy had laughed and invited him to dinner

He arrived at dinner to see Dr McCoy speaking to Nurse Chapel about a medical paper. Spock also noted that the doctor, who was sharing cooking duties with Lieutenant Sulu was speaking with him, when they interacted, in Japanese. As Spock observed, waited for his Italian style meal and socialised with the captain, Chief Engineer Scott also arrived and for several minutes discussed an engineering problem with Doctor McCoy as they hunched over a PADD.

After this initial interesting meal Spock had eaten with them once a week.

This all brought him back to the game. Somehow he'd missed the point of no return, and Doctor McCoy was to beat him in a maximum seven moves. Spock never could see McCoy's plan with his indiscernible thought patterns

"Congratulations," Spock said, knocking over his king, and heads around the room snapped towards them. "You play very well, Doctor. I find your style very challenging."

"My mother taught me to play chess," McCoy replied softly, privately. "When I was a boy. It was only after she passed that I was short of challenging opponents and that I realised how much I missed her while she was still alive."

Spock looked up in surprise and realised that there were still aspects to the Chief Medical Officer's personality that he had no idea about.

"I will remember my own mother every time I play," Spock said, doing his best to keep his face emotionless. "She taught me to play chess, when I was a boy."

III

Pavel Andreavich Chekov smiled down at the doctor.

"Doctor McCoy," he said, please that his name had no awkward letters for him to pronounce.

"Pavel!" the doctor replied, drawing out the syllables as was traditional in a southern accent and looking up from his own meal. "Would you like to join me?"

"Please," Pavel replied taking the seat opposite the doctor at the mess hall table. He ate several mouthfuls of food, honouring the doctor's silence before gathering his courage. "I want to show you someting. After we eat. Vil you come vit me?"

Bones nodded and their meal resumed in silence.

When they were both finished, Pavel led the doctor away from the mess and down into the depths of the science department into Sulu's private lab.

"Jenna Follett vas your friend. She vorked at the cadet hospital vit you. She was an immunologist. She also grew many, many flowers. I know zis because Captain Kirk said her memorial vas one of the ones you insisted that you go to and I vatched the recording. Jenna was on the Farragut," Pavel kept speaking even though the doctor's face had been wiped clean of any emotion. "I vas thinking that ven I get sad about missing my friends I talk to you. You're a good listener. But I thought, who listens to Doctor Bones ven you want to be sad about missing your friends?"

Doctor McCoy nodded and smiled tightly to him.

"You've helped me lots. Maybe, if you talk to the flowers, they, and I, can help you. You were the one who said you have to let the sadness out. Let out your sadness, Doctor. I feel better. So should you."

Pavel snapped a salute and was force to wait until the doctor, who had tears dripping down his cheeks could return it and release him. Pivoting on his heel, Pavel left the greenhouse and used his override to prevent access to the room until the door had opened and closed one more time.

A week later Pavel smiled as he arrived at his station to find Lieutenant Spock and Captain Kirk loitering and a woven crown of pretty white blossoms on his desk.

Sulu, beside him, was obviously not impressed but Pavel couldn't wipe the stupid grin off his face at the note with it written in his native Russian.

_These were Jenna's favourite. She grew some on her desk at the hospital._

Pavel chose to proudly wear his crown. It was more than worth the ribbing from Captain Kirk.

III

Sulu looked at the box delivered to his room. He could tell from entering the staff number into the computer that it was originally from Doctor McCoy – Daisy Stealer.

Opening the cardboard flaps, Sulu changed his mind. Inside were plastic lids that he could tell had been specially made to cover his flower pots so that the soil stopped falling out. Happily he pulled them out before discovering the second treasure. Bags of bulbs, packets of seed and some potting mix.

Pulling out the note he smiled to see it was written in Japanese.

_I took your daises because they remind me of my dear friend and colleague who died on the Farragut. I'm not sorry. Her ideas of simplicity and happiness made the entire bridge laugh for the first time in a long time, so I am told._

Also included was a can of Diet Coke from Earth.

Sulu looked around his green house and began picking flowers and making little posies to remember his own friends lost during the attack of the Narada. Before he was done, he was joined by Pavel.

"Let's take them up to the candle tribute. Then every person on the Enterprise can remember the colour and vibrancy of all their missing friends."

Sulu shook his head . "That's very profound, Pavel," he remarked. "And very true."

"They are not my words. They vere said to me by Doctor McCoy."

"And he is a smart man," a new voice declared. Sulu turned to spot Spock in the doorway to his greenhouse. "My mother loved irises. I was hoping you would permit me to select some blooms, if you have that particular flower, so I may lay them before the memorial to honour her."

Sulu nodded his head and pointed to the back corner where the irises stood tall. And for the first time since the Narada incident Hiruku felt like he could stand tall, and remember those lost with a smile, and contentment.

III

Nyota was relieved that Doctor McCoy had still been in his office.

She visited the memorial just before she went to bed, every day, without fail. Only that evening Spock, Sulu, Pavel and the captain had been there laying little bunches of flowers.

"Each flower was picked for a friend," Sulu had told the captain showing the other man a bunch of white flowers with a white card swinging off the ribbon that held the blooms together.

"Unfortunately, we will be picking lots of flowers, Sulu," the captain had replied.

"I can do it with gladness in my heart," the helmsman concluded laying the flowers.

Nyota had left and her feet had made her way here. She had barged in to Doctor McCoy's office and sat down on the sofa. He had got up, come around his desk and closed the door before ordering the computer to frost the windows and alert Head Nurse Chapel he was with a patient. Then he sat down on the lounge beside her.

Nyota had flung herself into his broad warm chest and sobbed.

"How can he remember them with gladness in his heart when my breaks all over again every time I think of Gaila?" she asked sitting up and accepting the offered handkerchief. "How? I don't know how I get out of bed some mornings. I get to the bridge and remember all over again that so many of my friends are dead and want to curl up and cry."

"Have you cried, Nyota?" McCoy asked her. "I have. Pavel caused it. He's been down here once a day since the incident. And then the other day he ate with me in the mess and told me how he asked himself who listens to my pain. I sat and talked to flowers and cried. But I feel better. My lover is dead. As are many associates and friends and colleagues. And I have cried tears for every single one."

"Water is precious. We were taught not to cry as children," Nyota replied.

"What did you do instead?"

Nyota relaxed into the warmth of the doctor and he started to gently brush her hair, as her older brother used to do when they were teenagers watching PAAD movies together on the sofa.

"My grandmother was cremated and her ashes given to the wind. My mother always told me that the wind was our ancestors trying to help up learn. She wrote letters to my grandmother after she passed and burnt them, giving them to the wind, so my grandmother would eventually get them."

"Maybe you should write them letters then," McCoy suggested.

And that was it. For the next hour, she just lay and listened to his heart beat rhythmically in his chest.

III

Jim frowned at the page, the piece of paper, envelope and pen that Bones had given him.

He'd been instructed to write a letter to his _absent friends_.

For Jim, Bones may as well have just said Gaila by name. But sitting here, with pen in hand and paper on his desk he couldn't find the words.

It took him another twenty minutes to come to a decision. Without getting up from his desk in his ready room he paged Nyota Uhura to him.

"Yes, Captain," she answered after the door had closed behind her.

Jim finally put the pen down.

"This is going to sound crazy. But Bones has it in his head that I need to write a letter to the people I lost during the Narada incident," Jim said, noticing Uhura's surprise but plowing on. "I need to tell Gaila that I'm sorry that I didn't tell her that I loved her, in my own way, but I can't find the words."

"Dear Gaila," Uhura replied.

"What?" Jim asked, rubbing the tears from his face with the heels of his hands.

"That's how you start a letter," she replied. "Write it down."

Jim slowly wrote the letters onto the page until they formed the two words.

"It's time to say goodbye," Uhura said, tearing up, and instead of getting up and comforting her, Jim wrote, sensing this letter had become as important for her as it had for him.

"It's time to say goodbye," Jim repeated.

"But before I can there are things you should know," Uhura continued.

Jim wrote down her words.

"That's been very helpful. Thank you, Nyota."

For the first time, the lithe communications officer looked him in the eye. "We're meant to burn the letters and cast them into the wind so they can reach the person they're intended for," she said, crying openly.

"We can put them into a black hole, if that's what you want? I will take this ship straight there, and burn the letters and throw them in to the space where she died if that's what you want," Jim said.

Nyota nodded. "We should help Doctor McCoy out and get everyone on board to write letters or pick flowers. He cannot keep looking after us all individually, helping each of us grieve in our own ways. There are too many people on this ship."

"I'll order some paper, envelopes and more pens," Jim agreed.

"Write your letter, Sir," Uhura said, calming down. "I'm going to write mine too."

Jim dismissed Uhura before turning back to his page and confidently placing his pen on the paper and writing the words his heart felt.

III

Scotty grabbed the two bottles of whiskey and made his way up out of the caverns of engineering for the first time in days. Knocking on the door he waited for it to open and reveal Doctor McCoy.

"There are certain ways of doing things," Scotty said holding up the bottles.

McCoy simply opened the door wider and stepped back.

"Captain!" Scotty said spotting the distressed man reclined on the bed.

"Come on in, Scotty," Jim said, with a wave of his hand. "We're just remembering friends and lovers. That scotch will definitely come in handy."

"We're all on late shift tomorrow," Bones said handing out three glasses. "Let's drink up."

Scotty poured.

"To absent friends and loved ones. Gone, but never forgotten."

The three men all drank.

"You were referring to the destroyed ships when you said loved ones, weren't you, Scotty?" the doctor said, and all three men laughed.

III

III


	5. LOTR: Impressions of Lothiriel

III

Catherine or Cate

III

Rabid Plot Fox Eomer Style

III

Impressions of Lothiriel, Princess of Dol Amroth

III

Eomer had listened to many stories concerning Lor or Lori, the Princess Lothiriel of Dol Amroth. Most came from her youngest brother, with whom she had a close connection, like his own with Eowyn, but several came from Faramir and others from her eldest brother. Eomer liked Elphir's stories the best because it also gave him an insight into the very reserved heir's true personality as these stories of mischief and mayhem were always retold in private and with great ceremony that showed the man's love for his sister.

However, Prince Imrahil had sent Elphir home, back to his wife and the city of Dol Amroth requesting that his youngest child journey to the white city to meet her king. Eomer clearly remembered the grins on Erchrion and Amrothos' faces as they listened to their father make the request to their brother, the small smile that graced Faramir's and the smirk that was momentarily found on Gandalf's.

Eomer found himself intrigued about Lori of Dol Amroth but was forced to wait almost four weeks for her arrival.

III

They were in council when the dogs of the city started barking and a high pitched whistle could be heard.

"She's here!" Imrahil declared happily rising from his seat, an action copied almost immediately by Faramir. "Boy," he said addressing the runner in the corner of the room. "Find my sons."

"I'll bring Eowyn," Faramir declared excitedly.

Before boy or steward could move more than several paces the doors were thrown open and the two princes of Dol Amroth barrelled through the portal.

"Do you hear that father?" Amrothos asked looking like a small child on his birthday being presented with his gifts.

Gandalf chuckled somewhere in the background.

"We should move to receive the Princess of Dol Amroth," Aragorn said standing. "I would dearly love to meet the daughter and sister of my friends and currently the only Princess of Gondor."

Eomer watched as they all made their way to the Garden of the White Tree. As they lined up Eomer noticed it was turning into quite the affair with the four hobbits in attendance and Gimli and Legolas also. Eomer looked closely at Legolas when he noticed the normally serene elf rocking on his heels in apparent agitation.

_Just who is Lothiriel?_ Eomer wondered to himself.

His question was answered by the thudding of hooves.

Eomer had looked away as Eowyn and Faramir had arrived at his side and he looked back up to see a horse so brown it was almost black coming up the ramp towards the receiving party. Atop that horse and all those that followed it was a rider of no obvious gender. Every rider was dressed in shined black boots, Dol Amroth midnight blue billowing pants that were tucked into the boots, a white shirt with long sleeves held in place by leather gauntlets and gloves, which on the first rider, appeared to have dyed blue and a matching thigh length blue leather jerkin. Metal armour that covered the chest and back shone in the sunlight and as the first horse approached Eomer was sure he spotted etchings on it. Finally, each head was wrapped in blue fabric, only showing eyes which had been outlined in black paint in the same manner as the tribes of the south.

The horses they rode were healthy and strong and moved with precision Eomer admired. Only five riders moved around the white tree and stopped before the steps. The receiving party watched as they all stopped before them in attacking v but instead of the horses being ready to charge, they were sideways so the regal bearing of man and beast could be observed. In the meantime, the other riders lined up in military lines on the far side of the courtyard.

None of the five riders in the front group moved until the front most one, on the almost black horse turned and bowed their head to Amrothos. A moment later, with simultaneous ceremony all the riders in front and back formations nodded their heads to the prince before a shrill whistle was heard.

Eomer heard Eowyn's gasp of pleasure from his side as all forty horses reared together. Eomer saw the beauty and skill of the acknowledgement and was astounded when Amrothos only chuckled and bowed his head in return.

Returning his gaze to the first rider Eomer noted they never returned to the saddle after the rearing instead twisting and with ease dropping to the stone pavement. He then pivoted back to the receiving lines and took two steps forward and bowed to Prince Imrahil.

Eomer barely noticed the prince step forward smiling because he was studying the breast plate which did indeed have etchings on it. The White Swan of Dol Amroth on the shoulder and one of a horse design he'd seen Amrothos wearing and remembered it belonged to the mounted messenger divisions of the Dol Amroth Army. Eomer's gaze rose to the rider's face and he saw that the decorated eyes, the colour of rainclouds, were looking right at him. They then moved to Imrahil before they looked to the ground as she, Eomer noted, bowed low.

_Was this Lori?_

Eomer's scrutiny of the front figure was again interrupted as the other riders copied the low bow from their saddles before swinging off and to the ground in unison.

"Beautiful," Eowyn whispered at his side in their own tongue.

"King Elessar, may I present my daughter, Lothiriel, Princess of Dol Amroth and Captain of the Wandering Companies, and her company of second sons," Imrahil declared his hand gesturing to the first rider.

Eomer watched as Aragorn stepped forward and the leader of the Dol Armoth arrivals dropped into a low curtsey, the gesture matched by all those she arrived with, about one quarter also dropping to a curtsey while the others bowed.

"A company of men and women," Eowyn said in surprise. "Led by the princess."

Eomer turned his eyes back to Aragorn who had brought Lothiriel back to her feet. They all watched as the head covering was unwound and thrown around her shoulders to reveal a beautiful face, with high cheek bones and full lips, and a circlet of silver on her head with a jewel in Dol Amroth blue hanging between her eyes.

"A pleasure King Elessar," she said softly.

"Her hair is the same colour as her horse," Eomer whispered to his sister making her giggle. "It is beautiful. So unusual."

"She is stunning. And so tall!" Eowyn replied. "Almost as tall as I."

Eomer watched as the prince and king introduced Lothiriel to the hobbits and Gimli before Legolas swept her up in his arms. She laughed happily and replied to him in elvish making her brothers, father and king shake their heads.

"Come," Imrahil said. "Your brothers."

Lothiriel was released from Legolas' arms and she kissed both of his cheeks before she spun on her heel and ran back past Eomer and Eowyn to her brothers waiting on the other side of Faramir. She hugged them both chatting happily before turning to Faramir and flinging her arms around his neck.

"Mir Mir!" she said. "I am glad to see you well."

"And I, little cousin," Faramir replied. "Your reports from your city were quite excellent. You did well to keep our enemies at bay in Dol Amroth."

"Yes, well, Ada and I are going to have a little chat about him leaving me behind very soon," Lothiriel declared. "Is this your beloved Eowyn, Faramir?"

Eomer looked down at his sister as she blushed.

"Yes," Faramir affirmed. "And her brother, Eomer, King of the Mark."

"Eomer King," Lothiriel greeted with a polite nod before she flung her arms around Eowyn. "I'm so glad that you are so beautiful and smart and spirited. The court here in Minas Tirith is always so tediously boring with the women all so unfit and uninterested in defending themselves or doing anything other than gossiping. With both of us here for the next month we can shake things up. We should have a sword fight one day. That would cause plenty for them to gossip over at luncheon."

Eomer smiled as Eowyn pulled Lothiriel back in for another hug.

"Yes to everything, Cousin Lori," Eowyn said in the common tongue. "I do not wish to be bored."

And as those grey eyes flicked up to meet his own for a split second, Eomer decided that nothing would ever be boring around the Princess of Dol Amroth.

III

III


End file.
